Mercs
Alternative title: Commando II
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Sequel to 'Commando'.

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Mercs is a shoot 'em up influenced by Ikari Warriors. You are an anti-terrorism soldier, and must rescue a former President from a Central African revolutionary gang. 

You run through each of the 8 levels, which primarily scroll horizontally, shooting everyone before they can shoot you. At times you will have to shoot trees and other scenery to progress. 

Finding strategic placings is important, especially as you can't shoot while on water. Most of the time you are on foot, but at times you can hijack vehicles of shot foes. There are improved weapons, smart bombs and energy recharges to collect. Each of the 8 levels ends with a large vehicle requiring multiple shots to destroy.

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The recent fad of releasing sequels to classic games like Contra 4, Mega Man 9 and even Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was responsible for a fun but forgettable sequel to Capcom's classic arcade title Commando in the form of Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3. It was named this because "Wolf of the Battlefield" is the English translation of Commando's Japanese name, Senjō no Ōkami. This still left some people wondering; where the hell was Commando 2?

Well it was in arcades of course, and for our purposes it was lovingly ported. The only problem is the game wasn't brought to the west as Commando 2 but under the completely new moniker, Mercs, which is short for mercenaries also known as guns for hire or soldiers of fortune. Though this name fits pretty well with the the game's mercenary soldier storyline it makes little sense that Capcom didn't call it Commando 2 as the original was a well loved arcade classic and surely it would have gotten a lot more attention if it were branded with that title. Was it because they had already billed Bionic Commando for the NES as a spiritual sequel?

Commando's follow-up, Mercs, came in 1991. While the game isn't vastly different in the sense that you still scroll upwards and shoot at enemy soldiers indiscriminately, it was a major overhaul from the simple design of the original. Capcom took inspiration from other "shoot'em up" games of the time incorporating different weapons and power ups instead of just a simple rifle. You could now upgrade the power of your base rifle, a wider spread shot, a powerful bazooka and even a flame thrower. In a further nod to shmup game design the grenades were replaced with a bomb that killed all enemies on-screen. Other than weapons, power-ups and bombs you also found items that lengthened your health bar or restored your heath such as medical kits and food. Speaking of which, the health-bar is another major change from the original Commando where you died in one hit and it's a very welcome one that makes the game a lot more manageable. The gameplay also focuses more on dodging than Commando which had a greater emphasis on taking cover behind objects.

You also aren't limited to fighting enemy soldiers who themselves come in different varieties with different weapons. Hard to destroy enemy vehicles and powerful bosses at the end of every level also stand in your way. You're not entirely outmatched however as occasionally you stumble across empty vehicles like Jeeps and even tanks as well as fixed gun emplacements which you can use against your enemies, a neat innovation to the genre.

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Alternate Titles

"Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS" -- Wii Virtual Console title
"Senjō no Ōkami II" -- Japanese title


http://segascrutiny.blogspot.nl/2011/02/genesis-game-reviews-mercs.html
